Chelsea latest: Including Ivanovic eyes early advantage and De Bruyne

A round-up of news and views relating to Chelsea over the past 24 hours.

Kevin De Bruyne has been given the all clear to join his Chelsea team-mates on the USA leg of their pre-season tour this summer. De Bruyne picked up a knock during Chelsea’s 4-1 win over Malaysia XI, and flew home to London to have a scan on his knee, which has revealed that the injury is not as severe as first feared.

“It’s very important, more mentally, because it’s the beginning of the season,” he said, when asked about the match.

'That game will not decide who is going to be champions, but it will decide a lot of things about the confidence and about the team.”

Chelsea youngster Nathaniel Chalobah has said he hopes to go out on loan to another Premier League team this season, after impressing at Championship side Watford last year. The 18-year-old has been involved in Chelsea’s pre-season matches, but is unlikely to feature regularly in the first team throughout the season.

Chelsea’s new goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer has said that Jose Mourinho played a key role in convincing him to jointhe Blues this summer. The 40-year-old has been brought in as back-up to Petr Cech after Thibaut Courtois was loaned out to Atletico Madrid for a third season, but believes he will be given plenty of opportunities to play.

Manchester United are apparently ready to let Wayne Rooney leave for Chelsea this summer, but only after they have completed a move for Barcelona’s Cesc Fabregas. David Moyes has previously insisted Rooney will remain at the club, but the Daily Star has reported that the England international will be sold if they can sign the former Arsenal midfielder.

Chelsea are prepared to offer Juan Mataa significant pay rise to extend his contract at the club, with the Spanish playmaker set to make £100,000 if he signs a new deal. Mata still has three years left to run on his current £70,000 a week contract, but the Blues are keen to extend his deal until 2018 after recent speculation about his future.

Nick Harris

I'm Nick Harris, Spurs fan and sports writer. Alongside HITC, I'm the founder, editor, writer, and fan of footballspirals.com and can be found on Twitter - @nicksharris. When I'm not watching sport I'm usually drinking coffee and checking updates on my phone in an antisocial manner.